Ouimet Scholarship Fund
The Bay State Seniors Golf Association has an historic linkage with the Frances Ouimet Scholarship Fund dating to 1978 when our first President Joseph Morrill Jr. provided $1,500 through his will to create an endowed fund for scholarship aid to a student studying golf and golf course related subjects, preferably at UMass. That is the second oldest of the 155+ permanently endowed endowments under the Ouimet umbrella. In 2019-2020 $2,500,000 in total Ouimet scholarship awards were granted to 438 scholars. Since 1949 over $38,400,000 in total scholarships have been awarded. The average annual award has reached $7,471 covering over half of the financial needs of the scholars. The Joseph Morrill Award continues to be supported through annual contributions by BSSGA of $1,000 augmented through a program of giving by our Senior Emeritus members who added $700 to our total in 2019. This latter program has become a major enhancement to the annual BSSGA gift, having added several thousand dollars since it was inaugurated just a few seasons ago.
The current awardee is Mathew Campbell, a junior at U Mass Stockbridge, who is majoring in turfgrass management. Mathew performed his golf service at the George Wright Golf Club in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston. In addition to his focus on golf, Mathew is a talented athlete in power lifting and boxing. He has also joined academic clubs, such as Turf Club, that through national conferences has enhanced his knowledge of the turf industry. Mathew can directly link his Ouimet Scholarship and working at George Wright to endless life lessons about work ethic, dedication and punctuality as they relate to his pursuit of a college education and degree.
For more information about the Ouimet fund see http://www.ouimet.org.